Forget about the dang pancakes already! This is something you have to taste – The recipe is taken, shamelessly and without editing, from the Joy of Gardening Cookbook with frosting from Grandma Gwen’s recipe box. It is so incredibly delicious and if I am doing my arithmetic right, it is about 75% zucchini. (Just don’t tell anyone that claims they don’t like squash in any form).
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 TBSP vanilla (yes, TBSP!)
2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup buttermilk or sour cream
3 cups coarsely grated zucchini
(I left out the nuts, but you can certainly add some)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9″ round pans.
Melt the chocolate and oil in a small saucepan over very low heat. Cream the butter until light; add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Add the melted chocolate and mix well.
Sift together the dry ingredients and add them to the batter with the buttermilk. Mix the zucchini and optional nuts into the batter. (I squoze the moisture out of the zukes while I was doing the rest. I think that is a good idea. In fact, I salted the grated zukes to help draw out the moisture instead of adding salt to the dry ingredients).
Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40 mins. or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake completely before frosting.
2 1/2 TBSP flour
1/2 cup milk
Mix over low flame until thick. Cook while stirring 10 minutes. Let cool. Go sit and have a beer now that you are exhausted.
1/2 cup butter – room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Cream butter with powdered sugar until smooth. Add thickened paste and beat until light and fluffy. Fold in 1 tsp vanilla.
(DOUBLE PROPORTIONS FOR 2 LAYER CAKE)
Hmmm…this looks suspiciously like a regular chocolate cake recipe with some zucchini thrown in. Not that I’m complaining đŸ˜‰ Very clever!
PS When do I add the dahlia?
As soon as you identify it for me! That is the mystery plant from last summer that we have been calling jerusalem artichoke, although it is nothing like one. Pretty, ain’t it?
Well, I think it is a dahlia. I’m surprised to hear it survived the winter, because often you have to dig their tubers up and bring them inside. That makes me thing I might be wrong about the ID. Here’s a photo of a yellow dahlia: http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2731853290050434146bcSzxD?vhost=home-and-garden
Is that what they look like?